


Bus No. 25

by Marty_K75



Series: The Pumpkin Queen [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Although i'm british so..., Bus, Cute, F/M, Fluff, High School, School bus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 01:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14225697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marty_K75/pseuds/Marty_K75
Summary: Regina think that the guy on the bus is cute. Jack thinks that the girl that takes the same bus as him is hot.





	Bus No. 25

**Bus No. 25 –** _Regina think that the guy on the bus is cute. Jack thinks that the girl that takes the same bus as him is hot._

**0o0**

He was there again, paying the bus driver, a grumpy man named Leroy who always frowned unless he down at the picture of his wife that was pinned to the steering wheel. He had his hair down, as he usually did, unless it was Wednesday then he had it tied up, he also had it tied up on some Tuesday mornings, one day he had it braided from the top and then flow out; it reached his shoulders.

He always wore the same public school uniform, it was PB High, while she went to Storybrooke Private School. Her mother spends tons of money for the shitty prep school.

He always comes at the same time, he walks on the bus at exactly 3:10 and sits at the same place, usually towards the middle of the bus, always towards the heater when it’s winter and out towards the path in the middle of the bus during summer. He usually had earphones in and he sometimes sketched in a black leather A4 book, other times he’d play games on his phone or read books.

He was handsome, had taken the bus ever since Regina started going to the Prep school, he had long brown hair that would reach his shoulder, it had a middle parting (back when she was 12 he had a fringe that swept across his forehead, his hair lighter and covered the jaw line that Regina had started to fantasize about after his hair grew out and he would wear a hairband to keep it out of his eyes). Through the years he lost the chubby cheeks, his chin got more chiselled, sometimes there were tiny black hairs prickling out of it (Regina always wanted to run her hand through it, feel it on her skin, those thoughts always made her shift in her seat), and got a growth spurt, he had muscles, clearly he was athletic and worked out, he also had bright green eyes that always sought someone out when he entered the bus, he would look at her and smile and this little dip would appear, it was right over his top lip, when he talked to the bus driver it was also there, and when he pouted at his book or sketch it was there, he also had scars on his face, one on his cheek bone, just a thin and short line, and another one that was on his eyebrow, she thought it was cute, it made him look like a bad boy, she really liked it.

She didn’t know his name, she sometimes sees a glimpse of letters on his sketchbooks, and usually they’re just a quick flash of coloured gel pen or paint. It starts with a J, she thinks there might be an A but she’s not sure, there was an M and another A, perhaps a Z. Sometimes she would look at him and think what name would fit him, she used to think that it could have been _James_ but it seemed too posh for him, _Jason_ or maybe _Jasper_ there were many possibilities, none of them seemed to fit him though.

He started going to his seat, first he put his wallet and but ticket away into a pocket of his leather jacket, then he glanced up, caught her eye, grinned, and sat down at his usual place.

**0o0**

She was sitting at her usual place, it was closer to the front, always on the left behind the driver; she would usually sit with her long dark hair covering her ear-phones, it was shorter now though, she had cut it during the summer holiday. She was gorgeous, with expressive brown eyes that looked like gold when light would shine on them, and a perfect nose that scrunched up in the most adorable way when she didn’t like something, she had a little scar on her full pink lips, Jack had always wanted to run his tongue over it, it was perfect just like the rest of her.

She was a gem to this world, everything about her was precious, her looks, her attitude, her name. Regina Mills. It sounded like a fairy tale, a royal name for a royal lady. Her father, Henry Mills owned a company, Mills Co, Jack wasn’t really sure what the company specialised in, he’s sure that they make planes or something along the line, he knew that they were rich. Much like himself and his family, Jack’s father, Sebastian Mráz was a wonderful man, he was overworked though, but it was to be expected when he owned a string of hotels, it was an empire really.

Jack shook himself off the thought and instead focused his attention on Regina, she had worn her usual crisp white button up blouse and a pencil skirt, she only started wearing those more recently (after she had her braces taken out and her curves all developed a little more so that she could show off) he loved to see her legs, they were all smooth a creamy and Jack would always drool at them, always wondering would it would be like nestled between them. She was always dressed to impress, sometimes, on particularly hot days he would catch a glimpse of her cleavage and salivate over it, over her, he could see a little glimpse of her bra sometimes, those day he would rush to his seat and place his bag on his crotch, he would think of anything but the beauty sitting a couple seats in front of him.

She didn’t know his name, he knew she didn’t, he’s not really sure she would care for it though, she was a lady, refined and poised even when sitting on the bus; he was a mess that couldn’t last a week without visiting the principal’s office. They were of same stature but Jack’s sure she would rather have a guy that didn’t start fights or skip class, he was a bad example.

It’s been four years, not once had he talked to her, not once had he sat next to her, not once had he introduced himself, he would always seek her out when he entered the bus (she was always there before him), he’d smile knowing that she was his constant, even though she wasn’t really _his_ , she was always there, the thought of not seeing her on the bus would ground him, stop him from doing stupid things.

**0o0**

He was running late, first Jack woke up to his sister running into his room shouting at him to wake up, then his mother came to ask him if he was feeling okay. He regretted staying up all night drawing, it meant that his mother had to leave money for him and write a note of the things she would have normally said to him in person.

Jack got dressed as quickly as he possibly could, he didn’t like missing the bus, he loved to see Regina in the morning, she always had a travel mug of something hot in her hand, always sitting at her usual place, earbuds in and half asleep, barely remembering to sip her drink, he always found it adorable.

Jack rushed out of his house, remembering to lock it, and then dashing to the bus stop, he didn’t get to the bus stop, he had turned around to see if the bus was already gone, he saw it driving further and further away. Jack groaned in agitation, “Fuck!” he exclaimed. Thinking quickly he remembered a quick way to get to one of the stops, he just had to run and maybe he would make it on time. Without thought Jack ran, he ran faster than he had even ran before.

**0o0**

Regina looked up to his usual bus stop, she frowned when the bus driver drove past it and he didn’t get on, she frowned deeper when she drove to another stop and another and another and he wasn’t there. Was he sick? He rarely missed a day of school, he was always on the bus. She took the bus every day, and she already had her license, she could just take her car. Yet, much to her mother’s annoyance, she insisted on taking the bus, just so she could see him.

Regina thought up the worst case scenarios, she didn’t really have a right to worry, he probably had a girlfriend or something, yet she couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong, he never missed the bus.

She was so deep in thought that she almost missed the bus stopping at a stop it never stopped at. In walked in a mess of a man, he had circles under his eyes, his shoulders slumped and skin flushed, he was panting. He had ran, Regina realised, he had ran to get the bus, it had been a solid 20 minutes of him running, about a mile maybe more.

Regina watched him go to pay, she watched him frown and look like he was insisting, then his shoulders slumped further and he put his money away, a look of sincerity crossed his handsome features. He sat down at his usual place and pulled out his sketchbook, a pencil, and then he looked down at his work. Before he had sat down he grinned at her, a triumphant thing that made her blush a little, he was proud he didn’t miss the bus.

That was their entire interaction, he seemed to have fallen asleep, only waking when one of the students that go to the same school as him nudged him awake. Jack sprung up in his seat and grabbed his bag before rushing out.

He got off before her, her school was another bus stop away, the bus always waited at the same place though, it was at the car park of his school, a 5 minute walk from her school, and a minute walk from his, yet she was always there before him.

Regina got up to leave her bus, yet just before she left something caught her eye, it was a leather bound book, lying helplessly on the floor. She picked it up, one of the pages was folded a page with a drawing of a lady with a smart bun sharp cheekbones, a somewhat narrow nose and wide eyes, she was looking out somewhere, the artist had sketched the way she seemed to be looking but not seeing. Regina looked at the front cover of the book, _Jack Mráz,_ was written in bold white letters.

“Jack,” she muttered to herself.

**0o0**

She spent the whole day going through his book, he was a wonderful artist, capturing beautiful moments of what people were doing, he always wrote a note somewhere near the drawing. The one with the bent page had a sloppily written _‘Mother, if you hate grandma, why do you insist on being in the same proximity as the woman?’_ it made her chuckle lightly, then on the other page was a drawing of a smug looking old woman, Regina recognised the smirk as one Jack often gave her, the note there read; _‘Nana, stop pissing off mum!’_ that note made her grin foolishly, he spelt ‘mum’ and not ‘mom’, he was British. There was a picture of a man with dark hair and light skin, he also had brown eyes (There weren’t many coloured pictures, but those that were, were beautiful) and that note read ‘ _Father, why are you like this?’_ It made Regina wonder. Then, every couple pages there were drawings of _her_ , light sketches of her looking out the window, or yawning, ones of her contently sitting with her eyes closed, or with a bitch face that all her friends tell her was permanently there, notes of all sorts beside it; _‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet’, ‘You can’t recreate perfection’, ‘Beautiful’, ‘I would fight to see you smile again’._ The things he said were beautiful, they made her like him even more.

Which made Regina decide to wait a few minutes before she got on the bus, she purposely stayed in school for exactly 7 minutes longer so that she would be on the bus 2 minutes after him. She had been turning the corner when she saw him seek someone in the bus, as he always did, and then frown deeply.

**0o0**

She wasn’t on the bus. She was always on the bus. Why wasn’t she on the bus? Jack was fairly certain that her prep school didn’t give out punishments like his did (he had more detentions that he could count, and his school had this thing called _Exit_ , they would put you in a room with a couple secluded desks you had to spend either the rest of the lesson at, sometimes they would make you sit there all day, Jack never actually made it to school if he had to do that), So why was she not on the bus?

He sighed in relief when he saw her getting on and paying, she started walking to her seat but then to his utter surprise she stopped right next to him and then sat down beside him.

Jack almost forgot how to breathe, her bare leg bumped against his knee, oh how he wished he could wear shorts, stupid school and its uniform policy. Her shoulder bumped into his, and he swallowed heavily. Did he fall asleep during a lesson again? Was this really happening?

She turned her head to the side and looked at him with a small smile, she let her hand out towards him a little, “Regina,” she introduced. Her voice was like honey, all deep and throaty, it should be forbidden.

“Jack,” he said, his accent rolling his name off his tongue.

She got a little glint in her eye after hearing his name, or maybe it was the accent she liked. He couldn’t help but smirk.

“Regina Mills,” she said again.

He smiled at her, “Jack Mráz,” he would play her game, he would actually play any game with her if she wanted to.

Her smile got wider, her perfect brown eyes twinkled a bit in delight, then she bent over to where her bag was leaning on the ground, Jack inspected her back, she was fit, he always knew that, but her back, it was nice. She was wearing a silk blouse that day, her school gave their students more freedom with their uniform, she usually wore a blouse and blazer with slacks or a pencil skirt, and other times a silk blouse. Apparently it was a grey silk blouse, black pencil skirt type of day. Jack couldn’t be happier.

She sat back straight with a triumphant little ‘Ah-ha!’ and in her hand Jack saw a leather book that looked awful familiar… it was his sketch book.

“You forgot it this morning,” she explained, then frowned, “I think it fell on the ground when you fell asleep and you must have forgotten it, I didn’t want to leave it, it could have gotten ruined or lost,” she handed it to him.

Jack went through some pages, “D-did you go through it?” he asked almost hesitantly.

She smiled sheepishly, “I know I shouldn’t have but it was opened and… they’re really good.”

Jack blushed, he usually drew her, sometimes when he didn’t know what to do he would draw her, she was his inspiration, “I- I hope I didn’t freak you out or anything,” he started, flipping to his favourite image he had of her, it was this smile she would give back to him, a cute and innocent little thing that never failed to make Jack’s heart soar.

“No, I think that they’re wonderful,” she nervously tucked some hair behind her ear.

“Really?”

“Really.”

They spent the rest of the bus ride talking about art and what they like to do. It was the best thing Jack had ever experienced in his life, just talking to her.

**0o0**

The next day when he was boarding the bus again, this time on time, he didn’t know how she would feel with him sitting beside her, he had wanted to make sure before claiming a seat she didn’t want him to claim. But when he looked up, like he always did, she smiled brightly at him and patted the leather seat beside her. Jack didn’t need to be told twice.

**0o0**

He spent every day sitting next to her, through the weeks they had gotten closer, she would tell him what had happened in school, she told him about her friends, talked to him about her problems and in turn he did the same. He told her how he was a problem in school, how his dad wanted him to go to private school because he believed that that was where children developed backbones. Soon she gave him her phone number, and they called, texted during lessons, at home, during weekends.

On the last day of school, before the half term, a sunny but frosty Friday morning Jack decided to do what he had wanted to do for four years.

He got on the bus and walked over to their usual seat, she was looking out the window sipping on her coffee, and she turned and grinned at him, eyes shining.

“You look lovely this morning,” he commented.

“You say that every morning,” she rolled her eyes.

Jack shrugged, “I was wondering what you’re going to be doing tomorrow?” he asked softly.

This times it was Regina’s turn to shrug, “Nothing, probably. Why?”

He grinned at her, “How would you like to go on a date… with me?” he smiled nervously at her.

She looked at him blankly before a grin pretty much split her face in half, “I thought you’d never ask,” she smiled.

“I thought I’d never ask, either.”

**FIN**

 


End file.
